Abstract [en]

Racist hate crimes have increased in Sweden since 2006 when reports started, but they have also been followed by a variety of protests. This article analyzes the so-called #HijabUppropet (#HijabOutcry), a call initiated by Muslim feminist activists in response to a racist attack on a Muslim woman, which encouraged all "sisters" in Sweden to temporarily veil themselves in solidarity. The hijab outcry was widely heard and both celebrated and debated. Drawing on postcolonial feminist theory, this article shows how the initial protest against racism was partly reduced to a matter of being for or against the veil and the right to choose. Despite intentions to normalize the veil, the flow of comments and pictures on social media turned veils into examples of odd, exotic, and beautiful elements that enrich Swedish culture. The white secular subject was again reinstalled as the ideal and it seemed as though Muslim women could not pass as agents of Swedish feminist solidarity. Yet, at the same time, the debate in the aftermath of the hijab outcry had the effect of initiating an uneasy feeling of not belonging among white non-Muslim participators. This was a feeling that might affect future acts of solidarity—confronting a Swedish context of secular pride and whiteness—where Muslim women must struggle to be recognized as political subjects.

Lundahl, Mikela

Martinsson, Lena

Abstract [en]

Secularities – firstness through religion and gender

In this article we explore how the positing religion as other simultaneously makes secularism a firstness. How does actors use and embodies secularism and reproduce it as an objective and neutral space – a firstness. The secular subject is being represented as free and rational in contrast to an imagined religious, traditional, and often Muslim other. By studying Swedish contemporary debates about freedom of speech, veils, gender equality, and the in/tolerant society, we aim to unpack how secularism is done in a Swedish neoliberal contemporary context. Inspired by Talal Asad, we wish to contribute to the undermining of the tightly knit weave of secularism, reason and critique in Western discourse.

Lundahl, Mikela

Abstract [en]

The ban of the burkini in the summer of 2016 in France is the latest stage in a long political history, where the French depreciation or fear of the veil, and of Islam, has come to play a more significant role since the end of the cold war. Unveiling female bodies at the beach in Nice expose conditioned values of the French republic. In this context, drawing black veils on public advertisements becomes a performative act commenting on consumerism, religion, secularity, and the imagined Muslim woman. In this article we discuss freedom and integration in "third spaces" via an analysis of "hijabisation" in street art and the official reactions against certain types of beachwear. In line with Talal Asad (2006) we want to raise the issue on how the secular state addresses the pain of people who are obliged to give up part of their religious identity to become acceptable. Race-thinking was once an explicit part of celebrated values like modernity, secularity, democracy and human rights. However, the fact that the idea of races has been erased from articulations of Western nations and international bodies does not mean that traces of race-thinking in the heritage from the enlightenment are gone. By following Princess Hijab and the "Burkini-gate" a nationalist fantasy intertwined with the idea of the secular state reveals itself and acts of un/dressing emerge as signs of integration revealing a challenged imperialist paradigm.

Abstract [en]

Background: Soccer is a complex sport with high cardiovascular demands. Preparation for the demands of competition often involves game-simulation practice. This is supposed to improve the physiological adaptions. The main purpose of this study was to compare heart rate (HR) distribution among elite female soccer players during in-season training sessions and a game. Methods: Fifteen players were observed during three regular training sessions, and at a domestic league game using Polar Team2 HR monitors. HR was categorized into HR zones to compare intensities of each activity observed. Results: HR values were significantly higher during the game (HRmean: 168±9 beats per minute (bpm), HRpeak: 189±8 bpm) than during training (HRmean: 134±11 bpm, HRpeak: 183±9 bpm, p<0.001). Players spent 55% of the game and 11% of the total training time at high intensity (HR above 90% of HRpeak, p<0.001).HRmean and HRpeak were significantly higher in the first half compared with the second half of the game (p<0.05). Conclusion: The present study demonstrates higher HR values and longer duration at high intensity during game play in comparison with training, which indicates higher demands on the players' internal load during the game. Thus, the results suggest the need to include high intensity exercise sessions during training.